


Shards of Rose Glass

by queeny407



Category: Wayfaring Daughter
Genre: Child's POV, Childish Outlook, Fugitives, Gothic Americana, Haunted House, Misunderstandings, Old Savannah, Other, Religious Fanaticism, Southern Gothic, Unsettling, deep south, no fucken clue lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27603598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queeny407/pseuds/queeny407
Summary: As the adults around her entangle themselves in each others' lives, Linney-Belle tries to make sense of the changes her new nanny is bringing into the family, for better or for worse.
Relationships: Rosannah Semple/Leland Beaufort, Rosannah Semple/Robert Beaufort
Comments: 9
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Quieta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quieta/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Wayfaring Daughter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18708775) by [Quieta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quieta/pseuds/Quieta). 



> hehe this monstrosity does not do the original justice, my apologies.

Linney-Belle learned quickly, growing up in Bethlehem Hall, that it was good not to question things.

She noticed the strange gleam in Uncle Lee’s eyes when he looked at Edie. She noticed a hidden regret in Papa, that was present nearly every day. She noticed the deep sadness etched in Edie’s features when the nanny didn’t know she was there.

She noticed, and she willed it all away. Because Linney was experiencing something new, a love that she had never felt, and, child that she was, did not want to think about anything that tarnished her dream.

New features were beginning to superimpose themselves on Linney’s image of her mother’s face. Black curls and dark eyes that never looked at her with anger, like Papa did, or disinterest or annoyance, like other adults did, but warmth and affection.

Sometimes, she found herself dreaming that Edie was actually her real mother, who had returned to care for her and give her the attention and love she craved.

Still, for all the rosiness that surrounded her nanny, Linney still noticed things that made her uneasy. Things that she convinced herself she had chased away, but came back to gnaw at her when she tried to sleep.

The way Papa had thrown Edie against the wall and screamed at her, that one night she and Uncle Lee came home late. Uncle Lee pushing against her strangely in the kitchen, making Linney sick for reasons she couldn’t explain. How Edie had come into her room one night and cried into the little girl’s arms, not answering why she was so sad.

For all the joy Edie had brought into Linney’s life, there were times she felt more confused and miserable than ever.

***

She saw Suellen collapsed on the track, her head bloody, and sat up screaming.

The fair was over. She was back in her room, the moon high in the sky.

Linney-Belle’s palms felt sweaty and she wiped them on her covers, her stomach churning as she tried to forget her nightmare. The blood flashed before her eyes, and she felt tears well up.

She knew it was no use going to see Papa. She had never tried, but she felt that he might yell at her or lecture her - he always found some way to - and she’d go to bed feeling even worse. Despite how kind Uncle Lee was to her, some tiny voice in the back of her head told him he wouldn’t care if she came to him in the middle of the night, crying about a dream.

Usually, whenever she slept badly (which tended to be the norm), she would press her face into the covers until she stopped shaking and drifted off again.

She moved to do so, when she stopped, realizing. She _did_ have someone to go to, and she knew for a fact that they wouldn’t turn her away.

Linney got out of bed and peeked out her room, before exiting and shutting the door softly behind her. Her small feet echoed against the floors of Bethlehem Hall, but she did her best to ignore the noises, focusing intently on her destination.

Maybe Edie would sing her to sleep, or rock her in her arms, and hug her while she told her about her nightmare. Despite the residual fear from her dream, Linney felt a sort of excitement as she tried to imagine how her nanny would comfort her.

She turned the corner, and saw Uncle Harland standing there. She slowly waved at him, and he gave her a friendly grin, before tipping his hat and disappearing when she blinked.

Linney kept walking.

She reached Edie’s room, and knocked quietly. There was no answer. “Miss Edie?” she whispered softly, and waited, shifting nervously on her tiptoes.

Nothing.

Linney wilted, before hearing a noise around the corner that made her jump. She squinted, and Papa’s figure came into view. He was carrying someone.

Fear struck her heart, and that tiny voice yelled at her to hide. She dashed into the guest room across the hall and shut the door enough so that it only cracked open a tiny bit, letting her see.

Papa came closer, and Linney realized with a start that he was carrying Edie, the same way the prince carried the princess in her books. A childish, romantic glee leapt inside of the small girl, before she noticed the look on her nanny’s face.

She looked shaken and afraid, and Papa’s lips were pressed in a thin line, sweat gleaming on his forehead. He opened the door to Edie’s room with one hand and carried her inside.

Linney leaned out of the guest room, trying to listen. She heard Papa speak, his voice strangely quiet, before the door opened, making her pull back behind the door.

She watched as Papa held onto the doorknob, his breathing unsteady. He pressed his hand against his face, muttering something she couldn’t hear, before pulling away and straightening his collar, smoothing back his hair. Still, Linney noticed something in his eyes that unsettled her, a mix of sorrow and another thing she was too young to place.

He left quickly, and she waited for his footsteps to fade before tiptoeing back to Edie’s door. She raised her hand to knock, but paused.

Somehow, this didn’t feel like a good time.

The young girl kept her head down as she snuck back to her room, her nightmare long forgotten as she thought about what she had witnessed. As she tucked herself back in, she forced it out of her mind.

Linney-Belle learned quickly, growing up in Bethlehem Hall, that it was good not to question things.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After her cousin is injured, Linney notices a momentary change in her Papa's behavior, though not an unwelcome one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place in the aftermath of Suellen's accident, after Rosannah tells the children the story about the army officer dancing his sweetheart to death.
> 
> I just wanna clarify, these scenes aren't gonna be in chronological order, and I will be doing my best not to alter any parts of the original story. These scenes will be taking place during any time skips, or from a perspective that wouldn't change what happens in the original scene. What one scene has could carry over into different ones, but this is less of a complete plot, and more just Linney's views of what happens in the actual story.

Her eyes fluttered open slightly, hearing footsteps approach. Edie’s hand gently ran through her hair before she spoke. “Mr. Beaufort?”

_ Papa? _

Linney kept her eyes shut, for reasons she didn’t know. Her father’s usually stern voice was soft and shaking when he spoke. “McCurdy, it’s late.”

“I know, I just-” The worry was plain in the nanny’s voice. “Is Suellen going to be alright? What are the doctors saying?”

There was a beat, and Papa sighed slightly. “They aren’t...sure what will happen. She’ll need a hospital, at least-”

His voice broke, and Linney allowed her eyes to open slightly. The expression on his face matched Edie’s - pure fear and sorrow. He was distraught in a way she didn’t know he could be. As long as she could remember, Papa was either angry or indifferent.

He looked down at her and she snapped her eyes shut, but not before catching the change in his expression. “We’ll know more soon. For now, the children should be in bed.” His voice was still slightly tremulous, as though he was trying to appear strong for Edie’s sake, or maybe his own.

“Oh, of course.”   
  
Edie scooped Linney up in her arms, but Papa touched her forearm lightly. “No, I’ll take her. You put Boyd to bed.”   
  
“Sir?”

Her nanny sounded confused, and Linney decided to end her sleeping charade. She wriggled slightly in Edie’s hold, causing both adults to look at her. “Papa?” Her voice was quiet from waking up.

She glanced over at her father, and through sleepy eyes, realized that the expression on his face was soft. “Linney, come here.” He held out his arms towards her.

Another day, Linney might’ve been more scared that he would yell at her, or wouldn’t have woken up at all, preferring to imagine herself still asleep in her nanny’s lap. But now, she could see a hint of desperation in Papa’s eyes, and caught the way his arms trembled. She remembered the pain on Aunt Letty’s face as she cried over Suellen and begged for her to wake up.

Slowly, she nodded and leaned towards him. Edie blinked, clearly surprised, and maybe a bit worried for the young girl, but gently kissed her head before pressing her into her father’s arms. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

Papa held her tightly, and she put her arms around his neck. “Goodnight, Miss Edie.” She gave her nanny a sleepy wave as Papa carried her back to her room.

Linney tucked her head into her Papa’s neck. He smelled like mint, and strands of his hair tickled her as they came loose from being combed back. He didn’t say anything, and she didn’t either, not wanting to ruin anything. This would be her own special memory to tuck away for when she felt sad or angry, for when she wanted to escape.

This would be the version of her Papa she thought of when she imagined her perfect family, and she wanted every moment she could get.

The walk to her room felt like it took hours and seconds at the same time. Papa set her down on the bed and tucked the covers around her so tightly she felt she wouldn’t be able to move, but she said nothing about it. Linney hesitantly asked for one of her teddies that lay in the corner of her room, one that she had forgotten to put on her bed. She half-expected Papa to return to normal right then, but he wordlessly picked it up and passed it to her, and she clutched it tightly.

They were both silent for a moment, Papa sitting on her bed with something unfamiliar in his eyes.

“Is Suellen gonna be okay?”

He was quiet before gently patting her head. “I don’t know. Just get some sleep for now.”

Linney nodded, and tried to find something else to say, but she couldn’t. Papa couldn’t either, and stood to leave. When he reached the door, she spoke up again. “Goodnight, Papa.”

“Goodnight, Linney-Belle.”

He turned off the lights, and as he closed the door, Linney mumbled one more thing. “I love you.”

The door shut, and she wasn’t sure if he heard her.

She settled into her covers, turning everything over in her head.

She didn’t know much about what fathers usually acted like, but for most of her life she was sure that Papa was not the norm. She tried to reconcile how he had tucked her in with his regular, angry behavior, but couldn’t.

Linney thought again about how terrified Aunt Letty and Uncle Amos were after what had happened. She wondered if Papa would do the same for her. She was sure he would. He loved her, after all.

She pressed her face into her teddy, and before she fell asleep, she realized what that look in Papa’s eyes had been. It was the same way Edie looked at her, but restrained and unsure, maybe a little desperate. Sad.

Her immature mind classified it simply as love, because what else could it be?

Again, she ignored the little voice that suggested there was something more to it, because she would let nothing ruin this memory.

She fell asleep, a hand too cold to belong to Papa stroking her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is absolutely going to be less adult than Wayfaring Daughter, considering it's told from a child's perspective, and to an extent, it will also be a little happier. I feel that Robert does care for Linney, and despite him mostly being a crap dad, I definitely think that, after seeing his niece in such an awful accident, he would feel more protective over Linney, and relieved that it wasn't her. Even if his nicer behavior is only temporary, it's still a mark that he cares for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look to the beginning, when Linney didn't know what kind of nanny Rosannah would be.

Linney was not excited to meet her new nanny. In fact, she would rather hide under her bed and pretend that the next few days wouldn’t be happening.

There was a time when she would have been looking forward to it, when she thought that maybe she could have a sort of mother for once. But it never happened.

She knew how it would go. The nanny would arrive, and they’d pinch her cheeks and tell her  _ oh, what a sweet little girl! _

Then they’d meet Papa. And maybe they’d think everything would be okay, except they were wrong. He would yell, and they would brush it off, until he yelled again and they realized what sort of house they were in. Their temper would get shorter and shorter, and they wouldn’t tell Linney what a sweet little girl she was anymore, until Papa yelled one last time and they packed their bags and ran for the hills.

It was a dreadful song-and-dance Linney was tired of. She was tired of learning these women’s names, only for them to abandon her after a few days. She was tired of catching a brief glimpse of Uncle Lee’s sly grin when they left, as though he knew some other reason for their departure. Most of all, she was tired of getting her hopes up and thinking that this next woman could make her feel loved.

At the very least, Linney was partly sure that she wasn’t what made the nannies leave. Of course she was familiar with Papa’s lectures, how scary he was when he was angry, and she knew he got angry easily. And Uncle Lee  _ had _ to be smiling like that for some reason. Still, she thought about how her mother left her, how every nanny left her, and wondered if it was just... _ her _ . If no matter how polite she was, no matter how obedient, everyone would leave her.

Sometimes, she wondered if that was a fear she got from Papa. Her Mama had left him, his family was gone except for Uncle Ezra, trapped up in the attic, and even she could tell there was some sort of disconnect between him and Uncle Lee. Maybe that was why he clung so tightly to the Lord and His prayers - because it was all he had.

Linney had other people, she supposed, although they didn’t speak much, and were irregular in their appearances.

She watched, hiding at the top of the stairs, as a young woman entered the home. She could see from Uncle Lee’s bright smile that  _ he _ seemed to like her very much. Then again, Uncle Lee seemed to like everyone, so she didn’t think much of it.

The woman was much younger than the other nannies she’d had, and she had a soft smile on her face as Uncle Lee led her towards Papa’s study. Linney felt a familiar spark of hope, that she might be different, before she pushed it down.

She waited quietly for the new nanny to leave the study, already wondering who would replace her when she left, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry all of these scenes are so short! Because what I'm writing could conceivably be tucked into the background or the time skips of the actual story, writing longer scenes feels like I'd be pushing my interpretations. I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Linney's imagination of Edie's torment enters dark places, she discovers that a new face may have joined Bethlehem Hall's ranks...

Fear gripped Linney’s heart tight and cold that night.

_ Your father locked me in here and I can’t get out… I need you to come and let me out! _

She suddenly thought of an old glass cabinet she had once seen in an ancient room, when she still didn’t know which parts of the house she shouldn’t enter. There were several china dolls perched in the cabinet’s shelves, eyes glazed and dull, not unlike her own before Edie had arrived.

A shiver went down her spine, and she thought of her Papa, and the scary look in his eyes whenever he talked about her nanny, and terror coursed through her veins. The image of a doll, with black curls and dark, dead eyes trapped in a cabinet flashed in front of her mind, Papa locking the door shut with a key.

Her mother came to mind, and Linney wondered briefly if that was why she had left, to avoid being locked away like a doll.

A sob escaped her at the idea that Papa wouldn’t let Edie out of the room until her smile faded, her eyes taking on the same dull complacency as the people in the portraits in the halls. She’d be alone again, and the shadowy figures’ calls would get even louder.

Edie’s terrified pleas for help clawed into Linney’s chest, and she felt her room get darker, and colder, as she struggled to take a deep breath. She stumbled out of her bed and pushed her head out the window, gasping in the cool night air. If someone was standing near Bethlehem Hall, listening very closely, they would have heard the softest, most pitiable cries joining its chorus of misery.

Her tears fell onto the ground below, and when she lifted her head up, she froze.

A small, squat figure with red hair was standing at the edge of the woods, and when Linney squinted, she could see that the woman’s neck was bent at an odd angle. She had covered her face with her hands, and her sobs echoed in the young girl’s ears, loud wails that chilled her blood. She sounded almost...familiar.

Before she could take a closer look, she heard the floor creak outside her room. Startled, she tiptoed back to bed and pulled the covers over her head, curling up into a little ball.

The floor creaked again, and she could hear footsteps out in the hall, almost as though someone was stomping angrily past her room. A door slammed, and she recognized whose it was - Papa’s.

For a moment, Linney entertained the idea of running back to where Edie was and freeing her, so that they could on the adventure her nanny promised, and maybe, just maybe, when they got backed, the shadows would be lighter and Papa would be calmer, and everything could be alright.

Something cold ran through her veins, and she buried her head under the pillow, shaking. She could go back tomorrow, right? Edie would still be there...and they could go on their adventure....

The young girl caught the snatches of wailing before falling asleep completely, the voice strangely familiar.


End file.
